Prevalence and impact of malnutrition on outcomes and mortality of under-five years children with pneumonia: a study from Upper Egypt

Malnutrition has adverse impacts on under-five children with pneumonia. The purpose of this study was to address the prevalence and impact of malnutrition on under-five years children with pneumonia, admitted to a tertiary large children hospital in Upper Egypt. This study is a prospective case-control study. All under-five children diagnosed with pneumonia who were admitted to Assiut University Children’s Hospital (AUCH) from January 1(st) to December 31st, 2021, were enrolled. Based on their nutritional assessment, the studied participants were classified into 2 groups: (1): Children with pneumonia and with nutritional deficiency considered as cases, and (2): Children with pneumonia and without nutritional deficiency considered as controls. Three hundred-fifty cases and 154 control subjects were enrolled, respectively. 93.4%, 31.1%, and 61.7% of the cases had underweight, stunting, and wasting, respectively. Among those cases, there were significant differences between survivors and non-survivors with regard to some clinicodemographic factors, laboratory parameters, and anthropometric parameters. Lack of compulsory vaccination, presence of sepsis, and blood transfusion (OR 2.874, 95% CI 0.048 – 2.988, p = 0.004, 2.627, 0.040 – 2.677, p = 0.009, and 4.108, 0.134 – 3.381, p < 0.001, respectively) were significant independent predictors for mortality among malnourished children with pneumonia. Conclusion: Malnutrition has a high prevalence in under-five children with pneumonia in our locality. It has adverse effects on the outcomes and in-hospital mortality of those children. Lack of compulsory vaccination, presence of sepsis, and blood transfusion were significant independent predictors of mortality in malnourished children with pneumonia. Larger multicenter studies are warranted.